Involve vs. Engage — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Involve and Engage
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Definitions
Involve
Have or include (something) as a necessary or integral part or result
A bill proposing harsher penalties for crimes involving firearms and drugs
My job involves a lot of travelling
Engage
Occupy or attract (someone's interest or attention)
I told him I was otherwise engaged
He ploughed on, trying to outline his plans and engage Sutton's attention
Involve
To have as a necessary feature or consequence; entail
Was told that the job would involve travel.
Engage
Participate or become involved in
Some are actively engaged in crime
Organizations engage in a variety of activities
Involve
To relate to or affect
The matter is serious because it involves your reputation.
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Engage
Arrange to employ or hire (someone)
He was engaged as a trainee copywriter
Involve
To cause to burn; spread to
The blaze involved the house next door.
Engage
(with reference to a part of a machine or engine) move into position so as to come into operation
The driver engaged the gears and pulled out into the road
The clutch will not engage
Involve
To engage as a participant; embroil
The bystanders got involved in a dispute with the police.
Engage
(of fencers or swordsmen) bring (weapons) together preparatory to fighting.
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Involve
To show to be a participant; connect or implicate
Evidence that involved the governor in the scandal.
Engage
(of a writer or artist) committed to a particular aim or cause.
Involve
To engage (oneself) in a love affair
Was involved with a colleague at work.
Engage
Actively committed, as to a political cause.
Involve
To occupy or engage the interest of
A story that completely involved me for the rest of the evening.
Engage
To obtain or contract for the services of; employ
Engage a carpenter.
Involve
To wrap; envelop
A castle that was involved in mist.
Engage
To arrange for the use of; reserve
Engage a room.
Involve
(Archaic) To wind or coil about.
Engage
(transitive) To interact socially.
Involve
(transitive) To comprise or include; to have as a related part.
My job involves forecasting economic trends.
Engage
To engross or hold the attention of; to keep busy or occupied.
Involve
(transitive) To cause or engage (someone or something) to participate or to become connected or implicated.
How can we involve the audience more during the show?
By involving herself in her local community, Mary met lots of people and also helped make it a nicer place to live.
I don't want to involve him in my personal affairs.
We are always trying to involve new technology in our products.
Engage
To draw into conversation.
Involve
To envelop, enfold, entangle.
To involve a person in debt or misery
Engage
To attract, to please; (archaic) to fascinate or win over (someone).
Involve
To complicate or make intricate.
Engage
To interact antagonistically.
Involve
(largely obsolete) To take in; to gather in; to mingle, blend or merge.
Engage
(transitive) To enter into conflict with (an enemy).
Involve
To raise to any assigned power; to multiply, as a quantity, into itself a given number of times.
A quantity involved to the third or fourth power
Engage
(intransitive) To enter into battle.
Involve
(archaic) To roll or fold up; to wind round; to entwine.
Engage
To interact contractually.
Involve
(archaic) To envelop completely; to surround; to cover; to hide.
To involve in darkness or obscurity
Engage
(transitive) To arrange to employ or use (a worker, a space, etc.).
Involve
(archaic) To connect with something as a natural or logical consequence or effect; to include necessarily; to imply.
Engage
(intransitive) To guarantee or promise (to do something).
Involve
To roll or fold up; to wind round; to entwine.
Some of serpent kind . . . involvedTheir snaky folds.
Engage
(transitive) To bind through legal or moral obligation (to do something, especially to marry) usually in passive.
They were engaged last month! They're planning to have the wedding next year.
Involve
To envelop completely; to surround; to cover; to hide; to involve in darkness or obscurity.
And leave a singèd bottom all involvedWith stench and smoke.
Engage
To pledge, pawn (one's property); to put (something) at risk or on the line; to mortgage (houses, land).
Involve
To complicate or make intricate, as in grammatical structure.
Engage
To interact mechanically.
Involve
To connect with something as a natural or logical consequence or effect; to include necessarily; to imply.
He knowsHis end with mine involved.
The contrary necessarily involves a contradiction.
Engage
To mesh or interlock (of machinery, especially a clutch).
Whenever I engage the clutch, the car stalls out.
Involve
To take in; to gather in; to mingle confusedly; to blend or merge.
The gathering number, as it moves along,Involves a vast involuntary throng.
Earth with hellTo mingle and involve.
Engage
To come into gear with.
The teeth of one cogwheel engage those of another.
Involve
To envelop, infold, entangle, or embarrass; as, to involve a person in debt or misery.
Engage
(intransitive) To enter into (an activity), to participate (construed with in).
Involve
To engage thoroughly; to occupy, employ, or absorb.
Engage
To entangle.
Involve
To raise to any assigned power; to multiply, as a quantity, into itself a given number of times; as, a quantity involved to the third or fourth power.
Engage
To put under pledge; to pledge; to place under obligations to do or forbear doing something, as by a pledge, oath, or promise; to bind by contract or promise.
Involve
Connect closely and often incriminatingly;
This new ruling affects your business
Engage
To gain for service; to bring in as associate or aid; to enlist; as, to engage friends to aid in a cause; to engage men for service.
Involve
Engage as a participant;
Don't involve me in your family affairs!
Engage
To gain over; to win and attach; to attract and hold; to draw.
Good nature engages everybody to him.
Involve
Have as a necessary feature or consequence; entail;
This decision involves many changes
Engage
To employ the attention and efforts of; to occupy; to engross; to draw on.
Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage.
Taking upon himself the difficult task of engaging him in conversation.
Involve
Require as useful, just, or proper;
It takes nerve to do what she did
Success usually requires hard work
This job asks a lot of patience and skill
This position demands a lot of personal sacrifice
This dinner calls for a spectacular dessert
This intervention does not postulates a patient's consent
Engage
To enter into contest with; to encounter; to bring to conflict.
A favorable opportunity of engaging the enemy.
Involve
Contain as a part;
Dinner at Joe's always involves at least six courses
Engage
To come into gear with; as, the teeth of one cogwheel engage those of another, or one part of a clutch engages the other part.
Involve
Wrap;
The tower was involved in mist
Engage
To promise or pledge one's self; to enter into an obligation; to become bound; to warrant.
How proper the remedy for the malady, I engage not.
Involve
Occupy or engage the interest of;
His story completely involved me during the entire afternoon
Engage
To embark in a business; to take a part; to employ or involve one's self; to devote attention and effort; to enlist; as, to engage in controversy.
Involve
Make complex or intricate or complicated;
The situation was rather involved
Engage
To enter into conflict; to join battle; as, the armies engaged in a general battle.
Engage
To be in gear, as two cogwheels working together.
Engage
Carry out or participate in an activity; be involved in;
She pursued many activities
They engaged in a discussion
Engage
Engage or engross wholly;
Her interest in butterflies absorbs her completely
Engage
Engage or hire for work;
They hired two new secretaries in the department
How many people has she employed?
Engage
Ask to represent; of legal counsel;
I'm retaining a lawyer
Engage
Give to in marriage
Engage
Get caught;
Make sure the gear is engaged
Engage
As of wars, battles, or campaigns;
Napoleon and Hitler waged war against all of Europe
Engage
As of aid, help, services, or support
Engage
Engage for service under a term of contract;
We took an apartment on a quiet street
Let's rent a car
Shall we take a guide in Rome?
Engage
Keep engaged;
Engaged the gears
